The world’s longest reigning monarchs in world history
Only France’s Louis XIV served for longer on the throne.
ByQueen Elizabeth
Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 through to her death in 2022, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Find here all of the New Statesman’s latest content about Queen Elizabeth II, or visit our related section pages on the Royal Family and King Charles III.
Could today’s bank holiday push the UK into recession?
The extra bank holiday for the Queen’s funeral could cost the British economy £2bn.
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Who will be attending the Queen’s funeral?
The guest list is expected to include previous prime ministers, world leaders and European royals.
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The royal family aren’t meant to be like us mortals – that’s their power and their problem
Holiday parks will close and hospital operations cease without anyone even needing to ask. This is what having a monarchy…
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What do the Queen’s speeches reveal about her?
The topic of family was the way in which she sought to close the distance between the monarch and the…
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What the Queen’s death has revealed about news
As coverage focuses on the Queen’s funeral, events in Whitehall and Ukraine are determining Britain’s future.
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The Queue: a brief history of its future
As the line to see the Queen lying in state became a self-sustaining community, Britain finally found that it was…
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Notes from the Queue
The queue to see the Queen lying in state is unexpectedly elastic, and moves faster than I had anticipated.
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The cult of Paddington Bear
How the children’s character became the ultimate symbol of British national identity – and an unlikely companion of the Queen.
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Is the SNP truly committed to keeping the monarchy?
Beneath the surface, anti-royalist sentiment endures among Scottish nationalists.
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For those of us who are neither monarchists nor republicans, this is the strangest time
We’re happy to watch the funeral and raise a glass to His Majesty, but mostly we want a return to…
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Keir Starmer’s response to the Queen’s death shows he can speak for modern Britain
Starmer has doubled down on Labour’s support for the monarchy but this does not mean the status quo will prevail
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The remarkable reconciliation between the royal family and Sinn Féin
In dark times, the warmth between Irish republicans and the monarchy is an inspiring reminder of progress.
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For king and countryside: William must surpass his father’s green legacy
To live up to King Charles’s environmental promise, Prince William will have to be even more bold.
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The Queen had an unwavering belief in the necessity of her strange, parent-like role
Mourning a long-lived figure is deeply bound up with accepting our own histories of loss.
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The history of the royals is tangled and bloody. But so is that of the nation they rule
The monarchy bears the fractures of the Union’s past, and underpins its present.
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King Charles III and his causes
Charles III is notorious for his political interventions. Will he be an activist monarch or follow his mother’s example?
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Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Diary: Life without a smartphone, the Queen’s Scouse accent, and our need for etiquette
In Ireland, if someone dies you say: “Sorry for your loss.” Here it seems people are not sure how to…
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Silence reigns
The real power of the Crown lies in its ability to forge and occupy a space of psychic comfort and…
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As the nation mourns, Team Truss plays up the PM’s role in proceedings
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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